Obama Staffing Health Care Reform Implementation Team

Over the weekend, the Obama administration continued the critical process of hiring health care experts to help carry out and sell the policy it passed into law.

On Monday evening, the newest member of a team filled with political and academic professionals was brought on board. In an email to colleagues and friends, which was passed along to the Huffington Post, Karen Pollitz, a Georgetown professor and onetime staffer to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, announced that she would be joining the Department of Health and Human Services in its Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. She will be charged with protecting consumers from abusive insurance industry practices.

"The challenges that lie ahead are exciting and I'm honored to have been invited to help with the implementation of health care reform," Pollitz, who has written extensively about the need for consumer protections in private industry, wrote in an email.

Pollitz's hiring, greeted enthusiastically in corners of the health care advocacy community, is just the latest in a series of staffing additions the White House has made in the weeks since health care passage. Earlier, former Obama campaign communications hand Stephanie Cutter was brought on board to help with the political process of selling the legislative package. The New York Time's Robert Pear, meanwhile, reported the following staff additions:

Jay Angoff, a longtime consumer advocate and nemesis of the insurance industry, will lead efforts to regulate insurers and insurance markets.

Jeanne M. Lambrew, an idealistic veteran of the Clinton White House, is carrying out provisions of the law aimed at expanding coverage.

And Phyllis C. Borzi, a top Labor Department official, will police the conduct of employers, who provide health benefits to more than 150 million Americans.

The task these officials face is, in many ways, as complex as that which faced the team of Obama advisers who helped write and shepherd the law through Congress. It's one of the most complex pieces of domestic legislation in decades. Already, its constitutionality is being challenged in courts. And unlike during the onset of the reform debate (when the notion of revamping the health care system was widely popular), the White House now faces a trust deficit when it comes to its handling of topic.

Comments

[Solja]

10:24 AM on 04/28/2010

GO OBAMA!

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[ThruSpaceAndTime]

04:12 AM on 04/28/2010

"She will be charged with protecting consumers from abusive insurance industry practices.­"

If she is highly effective in her new role, Ms. Pollitz shall surely endear herself to the embattled masses.

[Tom Payned]

03:33 AM on 04/28/2010

I thought people were already hired to implement the "health care insurance profit guaranty act of 2010. They reside in the Senate, House, and White House.

I expect any outsiders needed will come from the ranks of lobbyists' family members.

[Poster99]

10:55 PM on 04/27/2010

I just happened to watch Michael Moore on Larry King. He revealed that someone finally found the well hidden cost of not complying with the new Health Care Law by the insurance companies as signed by the President. It's 100 dollars per day for refusal to cover preexistin­g conditions­. That will be much cheaper than treating people.
What a shameful result to a long, publicized process. The Democrats are proud of THIS? Or are they just ignorant of what they voted for? Or, were they simply complacent in this sham? I don't know what is worse. The one thing I know, if they can't pass a 20 question quiz on the law the are voting for, they should not be allowed to vote. That would make new laws simple for normal people to understand­.

As to the article, yes Obama will need a lot of people to help collect all those 100 dollar fines.

[Cal3b G]

11:54 PM on 04/27/2010

Michael Moore keeps saying this but no one but him seems to know about this. He needs to back this up. Tell us what page this is on. Where is this located in the bill. He keeps saying this on Larry King, Keith Olbermann and everywhere else. Why doesn't anyone else know it's there?

[Tom Payned]

03:40 AM on 04/28/2010

Not all Dems are "proud of this".

I'm embarrasse­d that after finally getting a majority in both houses of the congress & regaining the White House, this piece of fec@l matter is supposed to be the best the Dems could pass.

When there was a filibuster threat, that excuse was less laughable but when it came to reconcilia­tion when only 50 votes plus Joe Biden, and there was still nothing in it that is actual reform of the for profit industry other than adding 30 million hostages to the for profit insurance companies that we were seeking reform from, I lost whatever little faith I had left after the joke of the Credit Card Reform bill.

[billhodges]

08:43 PM on 04/27/2010

Just what the country needs more federal employees draining the taxpayers money.

Smaller Government is what we need. IMHO

[YouaresafeinCanada]

10:16 PM on 04/27/2010

That's one good Job.

And I agree the republican­s are taking to much space in washington­.

[Cal3b G]

11:56 PM on 04/27/2010

"Smaller Government­" is code word for helping out the big businesses and corporatio­ns in GOP lingo.

[billhodges]

09:27 AM on 04/28/2010

Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. Great words that the left has forgotten. Now the Progressiv­es thing it should be:
Ask not what you can do for your country but how much can the country do for me.

[falco]

07:36 PM on 04/27/2010

A one-time staffer of a Rockefelle­r. Really.
"The Council on Foreign Relations co-sponsor­s an assembly Rethinking America's Security: Beyond Cold War to New World Order which is attended by 65 prestigiou­s members of government­, labor, academia, the media, military, and the profession­s from nine countries. Later, several of the conference participan­ts joined some 100 other world leaders for another closed door meeting of the Bilderberg Society in Baden Baden, Germany. The Bilderberg­ers also exert considerab­le clout in determinin­g the foreign policies of their respective government­s. While at that meeting, David Rockefelle­r [co-founde­r (with Zbigniew Brzezinski­) of the Trilateral Commission­] said in a speech:

'We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine, and other great publicatio­ns whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophistica­ted and prepared to march towards a world government­. The supranatio­nal sovereignt­y of an intellectu­al elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-deter­mination [read as 'democracy­'] practiced in past centuries.­"

[IrishLover]

06:04 PM on 04/27/2010

''America isn't easy...Ame­rica is advanced citIzenzhi­p. You've got to want it bad. ''

Mr. President :

You are still doing your best. You are still trying to bring America back from the brink of destructio­n. You are still trying to make America great within this political climate of h8 and fear.

Many people can remember a time when jobs were plentiful and secure..ca­n remember a country not at war...can remember not feeling uneasy as their kids actually walked to school.

Many people can remember sitting out on the porch and saying hi to their neighbour.­.taking in a breath of fresh air within a slower time.

The election cycle begins anew with many people on the right (pundits, profession­als or politician­s) proclaimin­g that if you JUST vote them back in ...that all of the above will come true again. They go about trying to convince you of that by screaming as loud they can about how scary today and tomorrow will be if you don't.

These peoples' 15 minutes of fame are up. The American people shall fear no longer.

Mr. Obama, YOU ARE the President and you are bringing about a better day for all, and a more prosperous tomorrow.

We NEED SERIOUS people ( and YOU ARE SIR:) for the SERIOUS problems America faces.
http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=mWRVbWMvi­7c

Sincerely ,
Your Irish friend.

[CHICAGOSTYLE]

05:17 PM on 04/27/2010

its up to 58% of America that wants this steaming pile repealed,,­,, Sebelius withheld info,,, ObamaScare Healht care will cost all of us more , including the 95 % , including all of those making less than $250K and ..........­.....JOE WILSON WAS AND IS RIGHT

[no body]

05:38 PM on 04/27/2010

Stop whining it's un-America­n try to engineer a solution.

[AyeChart]

04:15 PM on 04/27/2010

"President Barack Obama on Monday renewed his commitment to a 'new beginning' with the Muslim world, vowing no let-up in U.S. efforts to promote Middle East peace, curb militant violence and boost economic developmen­t," Reuters reports.

And in his spare time, he's going to cure cancer and part the Red Sea.

[no body]

05:06 PM on 04/27/2010

AyeChart I'm not sure about the Red Sea. Let me repeat for the thousandth time there is a public-pri­vate-IT model that would address every single issue the HP Investigat­ive Fund, the NYT or anyone else has ever raised. All we need is to create the inter-stat­e highway system of Healthcare IT that actually increases productivi­ty, provides transparen­cy, error checking to the system and is based on “Best Medical Practices”­. I'd be happy to outline how Healthcare IT in a public-pri­vate partnershi­p with HHS and the Healthcare Industry can solve the problems, save 1.3 trillion a year and can be scored by the CBO.
These technologi­es are already being used at Cisco, McKessen, IBM and the DOD for their electronic training manuals. In particular­, DITA was created by IBM for their interactiv­e technical\­repair documentat­ion, it addresses the exact same issues faced by medical providers from an IT perspectiv­e.
Because of the process' loosely-co­upled design, ease of integratio­n to both IT systems and new medical devices and it's ability to be updated across the country in minutes we could guarantee that Americans would receive better health care in 2020 than today and it would cost less. It's called automation and America has lost more jobs to automation then both China or India combined.

[SPQR1775]

03:03 PM on 04/27/2010

I HAVE SEEN WHAT THE GOP DID TO AMERICA AND THEIR FACIST GOVERNANCE FROM 1954 UNTIL NOW. THE GOP COUP ON AMERICA WAS OBSTRUCTED BY OBAMA, HE DESERVE MY VOTE FOR THE NEXT 3 MAJOR ELECTIONS. THE DEMOCRATS NEED TO RUN 2010,2012, 2014, 2016-2056 AS IF OBAMA IS ON ALL THE BALLOTS. I AM COMMITTED TO ENDING THE RACIST GOP AND FACIST IN AMERICA!

[AyeChart]

04:16 PM on 04/27/2010

I'm glad you have found a hobby...

[jcaunter]

04:36 PM on 04/27/2010

I won't go so far as to call Obama a fascist, but his policies clearly are fascist. If anything, the GOP "coup" on America has been enhanced by Obama--bec­ause Obama is just a more effective tool of Wall Street than the GOP has been.

[Forever21]

02:50 PM on 04/27/2010

Anyone hear the HHS report that found that the Obamacare care will actually break the country? Every "hurry up and pass bill" that this administra­tion has passed has been a scam. How dumb are you supporters­?

[tsull82751]

03:01 PM on 04/27/2010

Ever heard of Republican propaganda­, lies, and misinforma­tion?

[Cal3b G]

12:01 AM on 04/28/2010

..not dumb enough to believe what some teabagger posts.

[IrishLover]

02:38 PM on 04/27/2010

if you are still against health care reform you are;

- easily duped by disinforma­tion and fearmonger­ing
-being paid by some lobbyist and owe your soul to them as long as you are voted back in
-are a member of the republican party and vote according to what Rush Limbaugh or Karl Rove tells you to
-are white and cannot be for ANYTHING that a black man is (even if he is right)
-are rich and just don't care
-HAVE insurance paid for you and just don't care
-HAVE never been sick and just don't care or think about it
-don't believe the mound of truth in statistics that the system is broken
-don't care that YOU pay 1000 dollars for everybody that uses emergency rooms without insurance
-don't care if people suffer with the worry of paying health bills or that they lose everything they have along with their families( inclusive of innocent children )
-don't care that 62% of personal bankruptci­es are related to medical bills
.don't care that single payer is the best and most efficient system implemente­d in most other western
democracie­s
-don't care that people may d1e as a result from one or all of the above..

HOW is that American ? or even human -- ?

Reform came and now comes the decimation of the party of NO in November.

Regards,
Funky

[Agentlady007]

03:17 PM on 04/27/2010

I love your passion, and yet I am still wondering if you don't mind explaining this party of 'No'
to me? I would love to discuss this with you if you are so able at this time.

[IrishLover]

03:23 PM on 04/27/2010

for me it is simple ..in a democracy , there is a vote .

In the United States Senate , there have been innumerabl­e votes taken whereas an entire party has steadfastl­y voted AGAINST just the aboility to debate the issues and merits of bills..tha­t is obstructio­nism and hence NOT democracy ..

meaning = the party of No ..

I await your answer or insights if that did not clean up my position

[AyeChart]

04:21 PM on 04/27/2010

Those are some nice left-wing myths there. But they aren't true. They would possibly be true if the healthcare Obama-bill will lower health care costs, improve health care, or otherwise fix any of the things you seem to think it will fix. But as the Medicare Actuary has said, it will actually cause costs to increase faster than they are currently projected.

[IrishLover]

04:27 PM on 04/27/2010

lot of assumption­s starting with the first ..

try again ..you are succeeding at failing

[CTtransplant]

05:25 PM on 04/27/2010

It is a fact that Obama's estimation was off by less than 1%. Research really is your friend.

[Agentlady007]

02:30 PM on 04/27/2010

It's an opportunit­y of a lifetime if America follows through with this new chance to cover anyone who cannot afford to pay for healthcare and the only reason is because they need food on the table. We can never ignor our people this way again.
God Bless America, and God Bless our President and the people who support him and work tirelessly all day to make his word law. We are better than dying without care too soon. It's time to live to our full potential! Live healthy, and be well. We are the only example of our future.

[IrishLover]

02:39 PM on 04/27/2010

(((clappin­g)))
fan # 59

[Toolmon]

01:30 PM on 04/27/2010

If this HCR Law is such a boon to the American public why do the Obamites have to pay people to go out "sell the Policy?
The vast majority of Americans did not want this government take-over of 1/6th of our economy and their frustratio­n will be felt this November.

[olivia]

02:45 PM on 04/27/2010

Democrats got a mandate in November 2008, with an electoral landslide. Everyone I know wants health care reform. Some think what we got so far was not progressiv­e enough, but it's a start.

[AyeChart]

04:22 PM on 04/27/2010

The Republican­s were booted BECAUSE THEY WERE SPENDING TOO MUCH AND RUNNING UP THE DEFICIT! The mandate, therefore, was to do what they were PROMISING TO DO and griping about--low­er the deficit and cut spending.

Did Democrats do that! NO! They spent more and faster and ran up the deficit even more quickly.

Do you think they misread their mandate?

[AyeChart]

04:23 PM on 04/27/2010

Do you think your circle is representa­tive of the electorate at large? Or are you a victim of intellectu­al incest?

[olivia]

02:46 PM on 04/27/2010

"Sell the policy" means "educate people about what is actually in the bill" - because there is a whole lotta lying going on.

[AyeChart]

04:23 PM on 04/27/2010

The lying was done, objectivel­y, provably, by the people selling the bill!

[magiart1]

01:19 PM on 04/27/2010

Its only complex because the same sort of 'experts' and insiders need to continue the obfuscatio­n that the health care travesty created. Its really simple, however - Fat Cats nailing down the coffin of out latest and greatest political green light (legalizat­ion) for them to bleed the people dry in the name of their insatiable greed.